How-To reduce Lag

Writing this up for all Citizens and guests of Dee who wish to help reduce lag during in Sim, Events, and general

Note:
Each scripted object and attachment you rezz and wear adds -negatively- to the sims performance. While we all need scripts and use them for a lot of nice things, we don’t need them all necessarily constantly running.

This notecard will cover the following topics:
1) How (and why) to set a script to running / not running.
2) How (and why) to reset a script and
3) Color and Resize Scripts
4) HUDS
5) Animated objects, candles/ fire
6) Animated pets and Breedable pets
7) Quick bits- More lag reduction per settings

They add -immensely!- to lag.
An object with Resize Script means, there is at least 1 script in every single prim of the Item.
Once you are done with resizing your skirt/belt/boots/hair- delete them.

Usually there is a ” Delete ” Button in the item menu. If not:

Rezz the item
Right click on the Prim/object with a Script
Open Edit window
Go to Content Tab
Delete the script

If the item is no mod, and you cant delete the script, complain to the creator!

4) HUDS

Add logically to lag, for they are scripted.
In Dee you only need your AO, if you want, the REVOLT HUD,
if you passed the Dee RP Academy the REVOLT METER,
and if you have and your character can swim: the Swimmer HUD.
Remove all other HUDS (and meters) that are not required for RPing in Dee.
For -any- additional HUD please request approval.

Animated RP pets need Staff approval.
They count against your prims, and are of course, due being animated, heavily scripted.
So, if you got an animated pet animal approved, pick it up when leaving the area/sim

Breedable pets: not allowed in Dee at all. ( non negotiate-able!)

7) Some quick bits so that all of us can maximize our SL experience by minimizing our lag.

Plugged
– If you’re on wireless … and lagging … plug in with a cord.
See if it makes a difference.

One account per time.
– If you have Alts and log them in parallel, you don’t only slow down your own,
but the performance for everybody else around you.

Preferences
Select “Graphics” and the window will show your graphics settings.
By the “Quality and Performance” slider bar is a little checkbox offering “Custom”.
Check it and a whole host of customization options will open up for you.

Then do the following …

Draw Distance – 128 or lower.
Some cards may need to go down to 64.
The lower your draw distance is – the better the regions run on SL’s end.
The fewer people are camming to far areas, the fewer “information” is requested from the server.
(a region/area must process every avatar viewing it).
Reducing your draw distance is the single most effective thing you can do in reducing lag for all in sim.

Run Second Life in a window – UNcheck and select a lower resolution.
Running any program in a window is more intensive on your system than running it full screen.
Selecting a lower resolution allows you to reduce the graphical intensity of SL.

Shaders, Reflection Detail, Avatar Rendering – UNchecked
… yes, every single one of them.
You can add back in checkbox by checkbox later if you want
..check your lag reaction to doing so over several days … but to get rid of lag, disable all

Lighting Detail, Terrain Detail: – Set to Sun and Moon only (lighting), and Low (terrain).

Max Particle Count – set down to 256.
Reducing the number of particles you render at once can significantly
help your lag situation in locations that have lots of particles.
If there aren’t particles in an area – it won’t help at all.

Mesh Detail – Slide everything all the way to the left (lowest).
It does reduce how pretty everything is … but again you can slide things back up slowly,
checking how much it affects your lag over time, and find a happy medium that you’re
willing to live with.

“Hardware Options” – click it and it’ll open another window with more settings:
Filtering – uncheck (or leave unchecked if it’s not checked)
Antialiasing – Disable (or leave disabled if it’s already disabled)
Enable VBO – Check (or leave checked if it’s already checked)
Texture Memory (MB) – Set to the same as your graphics card memory.
The setting already there should be correct –
so if you don’t know how much memory your graphics card has, leave it.

“Disk Cache Size”.
On newer viewers this may have moved to another tab; like “Network & Folders “.
Contrary to popular myth, having a larger cache does –not– increase lag for you or others.
Rather it stores information locally on your hard-drive so that when you reload a place
you’ve recently been to, the loading goes faster.
The downside is that it takes up space on your computer. Another potential downside is
that if your cache has stored information about a region that has changed since you last visited it
– it will take a little longer to rez (Why Its recommended to clear your cache with each login ).

Advanced

To get there, hit Ctrl , Alt and D same time.
It adds a new menu point to your main menu on top of the sl Window: ” Advanced”
Open Advanced, go to

You will need to unchecked these Render types and features with each login, if needed,
while the settings under preferences are stored.

And a last one about clearing cache with each login:

Under Advanced you should find Debug Settings
At the pulldown you find ” PurgeCacheOnStartup ”
Easy to get there if you directly type it in.
Set to TRUE.
Now your cache will clean automatically every time you start the viewer.